Thicker than Water
by Love the Starry Night
Summary: Rin and Gou have a hard time understanding each other sometimes, but that's okay. They get there eventually. Drabblefic. Matsuokas.
1. Swimming Lessons

"Rin-chan, what do you think?"

Rin looked away from the TV one morning to see his mother proudly displaying his little six-year-old sister in a brand-new swimsuit. It was a one-piece, pale yellow with little blue cartoon sharks all over it.

"Ta-da!" his mother exclaimed. "What do you think?"

With a bored look, Rin said, "It's okay," and turned back to his early-morning anime.

"Rin-chan! You tell your sister how nice she looks!" Mom scolded. Rin muttered something along the lines of what she demanded, and, seeing that that was all she was going to get, his mom relented. "Are you ready to go to the beach, Rin-chan? Come on, turn off the TV or you won't get to swim!"

Suddenly enthusiastic, Rin hurriedly switched off his anime and jumped up. He'd been looking forward to their weekend trip to the beach all week, and he wasn't going to let anything get in the way of his swimming. He was already planning to join the swim club that his dad had gone to as a kid as soon as he was old enough.

His parents loaded him and his sister into the little car they owned along with the cooler filled with their lunches, followed by the foldable beach chairs, the towels, blankets, beach toys, and the solitary umbrella that Mom intended to sit beneath. Their luggage was nestled in the trunk; their destination was a little island resort that offered weekend bargains for families. Gou chattered animatedly about the beach, while Rin sat staring out the window, cheek resting on his palm. At one point during the short trip from home to the boat that would ferry them to the island, he looked away from the window long enough to dig a juice box out of the cooler. When he saw Gou gazing at the juice in his hand with a sparkly sort of hopeful look in her eyes, he turned quickly back to the window. The pier soon came into view, the waves of the harbor lapping against the fishing boats like the one his dad worked on. They pulled up onto the ferry via a large ramp connecting the land to the boat. Once all the passengers were safely aboard, the ferry pulled away from the dock. Gou looked a little wary once the swaying of the boat registered, but Rin remained unperturbed. He wanted to get out of the car and explore the ship, but his parents denied him permission.

Having finally made it to the island, Rin's only thought was to jump into the ocean as soon as possible. Unfortunately, Mom's first thought was to get to the inn they'd booked and unload everything. Rin pouted, but he knew complaining wouldn't get him into the water any faster, so he kept his mouth shut. Gou was in a better mood after having left the ferry-she eagerly peered out the car window at the new sights. Rin noticed his dad peering at them from the rearview mirror in the front of the car, a smile on his face, and rearranged his scowl into a look of determination. He didn't want his dad to think he was an impatient brat.

Dad patted his back once they reached the room, having guessed at Rin's eagerness to go despite his efforts to hide it. "We've still got plenty of time to go swimming. Why don't you go and change into your swim trunks?"

Rin's face broke into a wide grin. "Yeah, Dad!" And he darted off to dig through his suitcase. Gou, who was sitting on the bed they were going to share, watched him curiously while he upended the clothes his mother had carefully folded in search of his trunks. Gou was already in her swimsuit-she had loved it so much, she'd insisted on wearing it during the trip. Rin, after finding the swim trunks, turned petulantly to his sister.

"Don't look, Gou, I'm going to change!"

"Rin, be nice!" Mom scolded indignantly, upset over the way her son was behaving toward his sister. However Gou covered her eyes complacently.

"Nobody look, Oniichan is changing into his swim shorts!" she cried very seriously. Mom and Dad, after a moment of surprise, snorted and burst out laughing. Rin, blushing furiously, shot Gou a furious glare and hurriedly exchanged his shorts for the yellow-and-blue trunks.

After everyone was ready, they trekked down to the sand with beach gear in tow. Rin impatiently waited while his mom slathered sunscreen over every bare inch of skin, and then dashed into the water, diving straight into the waves. "Dad, look!" he yelled once he surfaced, swimming the best backstroke he could manage. His dad had just taught him the new style, and he was eager to show it off. However, he received no reply, no words of encouragement.

Rin looked toward the beach. His mom was fitting little pink floaties on Gou's skinny arms. His dad was standing beside her patiently, a bodyboard tucked under one arm. Rin puffed out his cheeks, a little annoyed that his dad wasn't watching. When Mom was satisfied that Gou was ready, she let her and Dad traipse into the water.

"What's up, Dad?" Rin asked, looking pointedly at the board. "What's that for? You can swim, can't you? You don't need it."

"I can, you're right," Dad said. "But this is Gou-chan's first time swimming. I'm going to teach her, and she needs it."

"Gou can't swim?!" Rin exclaimed, looking at his sister, who was still standing in the place where the waves met the sand. Suddenly he blurted out, "I can teach her, Dad!"

His dad blinked. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah! No sweat!"

"Okay, if you say so. It's a big responsibilty, Rin. If you say you can handle it, I believe you." Rin nodded vigorously. Dad studied him for a moment. "Hey, Gou-chan, guess what?" Dad called out. Gou was still standing on the sand, and she looked up when she heard her name, having been watching the water trickle around her toes. "Your big brother wants to teach you to swim!"

Her eyes lit up. "Really?! Oniichan does?!"

"You bet! So come on!"

"Yeah, Gou, come on!" Rin called. He wanted to show his dad that he was so good at swimming that he could even teach others how to do it.

His sister came skipping into the water, just far enough that it came up to her waist. Rin met her there.

"Okay...um...the first thing you gotta know how to do," he said, conscious of their dad watching them a little ways away, "is float." That was what Dad had told him, when he was teaching Rin to swim. "If you can't float, you can't swim. You'll sink and drown."

Gou's eyebrows shot up. "D-drown?" she repeated timidly. Her enthusiasm dimmed visibly, with fear quickly moving into the space it left empty.

Rin caught himself. "Only if there's no one around to get you! But I'm here! So if you sink I can pull you up," he insisted.

His sister's fright turned immediately to reassurance. "I know, Oniichan. What else do I have to do?"

"You gotta actually float first! Come on, all you have to do is lay on your back. I'll hold onto you so you dont float away. Or sink."

Gou and Rin waded a little deeper, coming to a place where the water came up to their chests. "Okay, Gou, try floating," Rin said.

"How do I lay down, Oniichan?"

"Gou, it's not hard! Just...just take your feet off the bottom. Pull them up." Rin looked over at his dad, who smiled and nodded encouragingly.

It took a little doing, but Gou managed to assume a supine position at the surface of the water. Rin took hold of her forearms from behind her. Suddenly, she thrashed. "Oniichan, my head is sinking! Oniichan!"

"Ah-ah-it's okay, Gou! Just pull it up!" Rin tried to keep from panicking-he'd forgotten to tell Gou about the sinking-head part.

She pulled her head up. "My ears were getting full of water!" she exclaimed.

"Of course your ears are gonna get full of water! It won't hurt you though. It just feels a little weird."

After a moment longer of floating, Gou said, "What now?"

Rin was pensive. "Uh...now you have to float on your stomach."

"With my face in the water?" Gou questioned.

"Oh!" Rin cried. "That's right. You gotta know how to hold your breath."

"I can hold my breath," Gou insisted, puffing out her cheeks. She righted herself, placing her feet firmly on the sandy bottom.

"Anyone can hold their breath. Not everyone can hold it underwater. Like this!" And he submerged himself.

Dad kept watch while his son and daughter went through the same exercises that he and his father had gone through when he was learning to swim. He panicked momentarily when both heads of flaming red hair went under, but they soon surfaced, Gou coughing a little and rubbing her eyes. She must've gotten a mouthful of seawater.

"Everything okay?" their mom called from the beach. Both brother and sister cried out that they were fine, and Rin asked his dad to give him the bodyboard soon after. Rin wanted to teach Gou to kick.

He swam alongside his sister while she kicked her feet, exclaiming encouragements when she seemed to have trouble. It was only when a wave suddenly pushed Gou right off the board did their dad decide that that was enough of lessons for the day. The siblings didn't leave the water, though-they took turns riding the waves onto the sand with the bodyboard, both squealing gleefully as they played and splashed. Their parents eventually called them out of the water, as it was getting close to dinnertime. Neither sibling was happy to leave.

They dried themselves off and changed into their shorts and t-shirts, and the Matsuokas went to have dinner at a noodle stand a short way away from the inn. After that, Mom and Dad surprised the siblings with ice cream, which they returned to the beach to eat.

They sat on the seawall while watching the sun sink into the ocean. Rin eyed Gou enviously as she sat on their dad's lap. She was eating a strawberry popsicle, the fast-melting treat staining her lips and the area around her mouth bright red. Rin licked at his own vanilla ice cream cone and tried not to pout in front of his dad, instead fixing his gaze on the sunset. The sky was a rainbow of cotton candy pinks and fiery oranges, a rich thread of purple lining the horizon. The ocean sparkled as the waves tossed and rolled, gleaming as if liquid gold had been poured into the water. Suddenly he saw a flash of green.

"What was that?!" he cried, at the exact same time Gou exclaimed, "Mommy, there was a green spot!"

"That was the green flash," Dad said in reply to their outbursts. "I see it all the time on the boat."

"What's the green flash?" the siblings demanded in unison.

Dad rubbed his neck, looking up as if to think. "You know what, I don't really know. I just know that it happens every night, when the sun goes down. Only most of the time, no one sees it."

"No one? Ever?" Rin asked.

"No one," Dad repeated. But then he smiled, as if he had a secret he was thinking of sharing. "But that's only because they're not looking for it."

Rin contemplated what his dad said, but eventually dismissed it in favor of finishing his ice cream. He didn't get grown-ups sometimes.

While they were walking back to the inn, Rin noticed a large, familiar-looking building. He hadn't ever seen that particular building before, but he recognized the structure of it. He'd seen something like it back home.

"Dad, is that a swim club?" he asked excitedly.

"Mm-hm," his dad answered. "But it's only for really talented grown-up swimmers. You're not grown up yet, so you've got a little while before they'll let you in."

Rin took in his father's implied compliment and smiled widely. He wasn't even jealous of Gou, who was hanging from Dad's back like a baby monkey. His dad thought he was as good at swimming as a grown-up. Gou could ride piggyback with Dad for the rest of her life, for all that it mattered. That didn't come close to Dad thinking Rin was as good a swimmer as a grown-up. Rin gazed over his shoulder at the shiny glass doors and through the big windows at the high-up ceiling. He couldn't see the pool, but he knew it would be amazing. He wanted to grow up as soon as possible.

Rin was imagining being big and tall and striding into the club entrance like he owned it when Gou suddenly exclaimed, "I'll get to go in, too!"

Rin went on the defensive. "What? You want to be a swimmer, too?"

Gou shook her head, her crimson ponytail swinging like a rope. "I'll get to go in because _Oniichan _gets to go in," she enunciated, "so I can watch Oniichan swim, because I'm Oniichan's sister!"

Rin raised his eyebrows, having not expected that answer. He felt himself blush a little at his sister's words, but covered it up by crossing his arms behind his head, grinning like a cat playing with a mouse. "I _guess_ I can get you in, Gou...since you _are _my sister and all...but what if you fall in the pool?"

"I can swim!" Gou insisted fervently.

"Only if you have a bodyboard to float on. What if you don't have a bodyboard?" Rin asked smugly. Gou was stuck, looking for an answer, until...

"I don't even need to know how to swim. Because if I sink, Oniichan will be there to pull me up!"

Rin's smug expression fell from his face, leaving one of genuine surprise. He didn't respond to her, and neither Mom nor Dad answered for him. They were just as surprised as Rin. Gou looked around at her silent family. "Won't he pull me up? Won't he?" she asked, a little frantically.

"Y...yeah..." Rin murmured, still thrown for a loop. Their mom recovered first, giggling a little.

Once the family had bathed, they changed into pajamas and snuggled into their beds. Gou curled up next to Rin, her back pressed to his. Rin didn't acknowledge this, but he didn't move from the position either. He wondered, in the state between sleep and consciousness, if maybe he ought to treat Gou a little nicer...especially if she really was going to say such nice things about him...

Early the next morning, Rin got up before anyone else and got dressed, pulling on his shoes. Gou stirred when he jarred the bed.

"Onii...chan?" she murmured, rubbing her eyes.

"Go back to sleep, Gou," Rin whispered. "I'm going out to see that pool."

"I wanna come too!"

"Shhhh!" Rin hissed, looking over at his parents. They were still breathing evenly and deeply in their sleep. He went back to lacing his sneakers, but remembered the things his sister had said the day before. "Okay, you can come along. But you've gotta do what I say!"

"Okay!" Gou whispered. She rolled out of bed and disappeared behind it, reappearing dressed in little blue shorts and a t-shirt. She tied her sneakers, and the siblings snuck out of the room.

They soon reached the club. Rin and Gou walked around it, simply to get a full view of it, and pressed their faces against the large glass doors to get a glimpse of the pool. Rin could only see a distorted image, since the glass was tinted, but what he could see surpassed his expectations. There were diving blocks and swimming lanes, and the blue-white bottom of the pool almost glowed through the clear, clean-looking water. He really, really wanted to swim in it. The doors were locked, however, and anyway he hadn't brought his swimsuit. He and Gou sat next to each other, their backs against the doors.

"I'm gonna be an Olympic swimmer someday," Rin said, looking up at the morning sky.

Gou smiled at him, pulling her knees to her chest. "Can Olympic swimmers swim in big pools like this one?"

"They can swim in pools even bigger than this one!" Rin exclaimed. "Olympians are like superheroes. They can do anything. They can even fly!" Rin recalled seeing once on TV an Olympic gymnast jumping and flipping on a mat like she weighed nothing. Surely that meant that there was something special about her, something that set her apart from regular athletes. Rin wanted to be like that. And he wanted to do what his dad hadn't been able to-after Rin had been born, his dad had had to give up on his dream of going to the Olympics in order to help raise him. And after Gou, it was painfully clear that Olympic glory was not in his future, nor would it ever be. So Rin wanted to start where his father had left off and finish what he'd started.

"They can fly?!" Gou exclaimed.

"They can do anything!" Rin cried, gesturing wildly with his hands. "They can run faster than cheetahs! They can jump over the tallest bars you've ever seen! They could even throw a man to the moon, I bet, with their bare hands!"

"Does that mean _you _can do all that, Oniichan?" Gou asked.

"Gou," Rin whined a little, irritated slightly that Gou wasn't as enthralled by the Olympics as he was, "we already covered this. I'm gonna be a _swimmer._"

"Okay," Gou said. "Can I go with you? To the Olympics? So I can see you swim?"

There she went again-saying nice things that made Rin think he ought to be a bit nicer. "Well, yeah," he eventually said, shrugging sheepishly as he peeked at Gou's sparkly-hopeful look from the corner of his eye. "I mean, you're my sister and all..."

Gou threw her arms around Rin, squealing excitedly. Rin wriggled out of her grasp and jumped up. He may have been thinking about being nicer, but he was _not _doing any hugging. Gou was a _girl, _nevermind his sister. "Come on, Gou, let's go back before they wake up."

Unfortunately, as they snuck quietly back into the room, they were met with an unpleasant surprise. Their parents were already awake. Dad was standing only a little ways behind the door, arms crossed and expression disapproving. After explaining where they were, the siblings received two sharp conks to the head from their father for sneaking out, and then were promptly sent to get changed into their swimsuits. Mom and Dad had decided to forego punishment in favor of not spoiling the vacation, and anyway, it was too cute to reprimand-the siblings sneaking away to look at a pool together. And anyway, it was the last day of their visit.

An hour later, Rin and Gou were having swim lessons again. Gou was still using the bodyboard, but their dad thought that it was almost time for her to try swimming without it. So, after a cheerful pep talk, Gou handed it over and at Rin's urging, let the next wave lift her off the sandy bottom of the beach.

"Paddle, Gou, paddle! Use your legs! Come on, you can do it!" Rin cried. She paddled and kicked and flailed furiously, Rin swimming beside her and exclaiming encouragements periodically, and reached the place where Dad was with a big smile on her face.

"I did it!" she exclaimed. She paddled around in excitement. "Oniichan, I can swim!"

For once, Rin's grin matched hers. "Yeah! Now you can learn the breaststroke and the butterfly and-"

"And have a good rest for the rest of the day," Dad cut in. "You did so well, Gou. I'm so proud of you."

Gou beamed at her father's praise, and Rin for once didn't feel envious. Maybe it was because it felt like praise for his teaching skills, too, or maybe he was just proud of his sister for learning to swim so quickly. "Yeah, Gou. You did good."

The family spent the next few hours playing, making sand castles and riding the waves in on the bodyboard. Even their mom joined them to look for seashells. Gou found a sand dollar, and Rin, to his immense delight, found an actual shark tooth.

"You keep that safe," his dad told him as Rin clutched it protectively in his hands. "That's a special thing for a swimmer to find."

As the sun began its descent into the ocean, the Matsuokas began to pack up their things. It was time to go home. Rin tucked his shark tooth into a zippered pocket on his shorts; Gou, noticing him, did the same with her sand dollar. She hoped Mom could make a necklace out of it for her. Mom and Dad, after having packed all the luggage and double-checked to make sure they had everything, strapped Rin and Gou into their little car and left the inn, heading toward the docks.

One short ferry ride later, the family was back on the mainland.

As he had done before, Rin dug around in the cooler for something to drink. There was only one juice box left, and when he pulled it out, Gou started looking at it hopefully. She wouldn't say that she wanted it, nor would she ask for it-she hadn't before, Rin remembered. He watched his sister for a moment-her burgundy hair, the same color as his; her eyes the same strange warm brown that almost looked like they had red in them. He looked at her, and then at the juice box in his hand, and then back at her. Silently he held it out to his sister in offering.

Her eyes lit up. She beamed brighty and accepted the juice, sticking the straw in after tearing it out of the plastic and sipping happily. After a moment of enjoying her brother's gift, Gou held out the box to Rin. He looked surprised-he hadn't expected his sister to want to share. Nonetheless, he accepted the juice and gulped a mouthful down. They passed it back and forth until it was empty.

Their dad, at one point in the drive home, peered at his children in the rearview mirror. They were asleep; Gou's head was leaned against her big brother's shoulder, whose head rested atop hers. They were holding onto an empty juice box in the little space between them, and Dad smiled; it was almost as if they were holding hands.

**A/N: **I love the Matsuoka siblings. They need more development.


	2. The Sands of Time

**A/N: **Warning! Incest in this chapter. Also, implied Nagisa x Rei. If it ain't yo thang, go ahead and skip it if that is your preference.

The sun on the sand was unbearably hot, and the next city was miles away. Haruka pulled his scarf over his mouth to avoid breathing in the dust kicked up by the occasional desert wind, but it was barely more comfortable to inhale perspiration-soaked fabric than it was dry sand. He needed to find water soon.

He tried to get his mind off of his current predicament by thinking about his friends. He hadn't seen them in a long time-he wondered if they had changed at all. His friends Makoto, a merchant, and Nagisa, a dancer, had been disappointed over Haruka's departure two years ago, but suppotive enough of his decision to send him off with kind good-byes. But his enigmatic best friend Rin, who was the late sultan's son and firstborn heir, had been furious with Haruka. They had had a vicious falling-out before his departure, and Rin had not shown up to see him off. The last Haruka had heard of him, he was secluded within his enormous palace, allowing only the company of his advisors, his servants, his mother, and his beloved sister, Princess Gou.

Haruka didn't regret leaving. He'd gone to visit many different places, meet new people and experience a slice of what the world, in all of its grandeur, had to offer. He'd learned many things along the way; things about the nature of people, as well as himself. Having grown homesick for his birthplace, he'd concluded his travels and made preparations to return to the city that he was now only a few miles away from. His camel, whom he had named Mackerel in honor of a seafood dish he had become enamored with during his travels, was laden with souveneirs he intended to divy out to his friends-Rin, in all of his moodiness, included.

_Rin _was his regret. Haruka regretted leaving their friendship in such a tattered state. He knew now that he had made a grave mistake when he had left without repairing the rift that he now accepted the fault of creating. He hoped, upon arriving to the city, to mend their damaged bond.

But first, he thought as he clutched at his neck, he _really_ needed to find water.

Bare feet slapped a glossy granite floor, golden anklets jingling, as the princess Gou hurried down a hall in the palace she and her brother shared. Her brother had summoned her to his rooms, where he preferred to spend his leisure time, and as always she delighted in sharing his company despite any foul mood he might be in. Her attendants were having a hard time keeping up with her, their skirts billowing as they jogged remain close behind.

She burst through the large double doors leading into his rooms, cheerfully exclaiming "Brother! " as she did so.

The man in question, who was reclining on enormous cushions that took up a section of the shining black floor, looked up from a yellowing scroll resting unfurled in his lap. "Gou. You don't need to shout." He looked handsome, as he always did, with his burgundy hair falling around the sides of his face. His feet were bare, like his sister's, and he was wearing a green tunic embroidered with blue thread low around his waist. He had a shawl thrown carelessly across his shoulders, but was otherwise barechested. The lines of his chiseled muscles were, at the moment, relaxed.

"I'm sorry, brother," Gou said, smiling shyly. "I'm just happy that you summoned me."

"As if you don't intrude uninvited anyway." Rin raised a hand and beckoned casually for her to approach him. She did, and he reached forward and grasped her wrist, pulling her down to recline beside him and draping his arm around her shoulders.

"What are you reading?" she asked, settling into his side.

"A letter from some foreign dignitary that I don't care about, " Rin said. He set the scroll aside, turning his full attention to her. With his free arm, he slid Gou's legs across his lap. Gou wound her arms around his neck, pressing her lips to the corner of his jaw.

"You've been so moody lately-I've been worried," Gou said with her lips against his skin. "Please, what can I do to make you happy?"

Rin, Gou thought, had been "moody" for two years running. She remembered his rage at his best friend's departure, how he'd accused Haruka of abandoning him when his grief for his father was still fresh. It had only been a few weeks after the funereal ceremonies that Haruka had packed up and left, and while Gou secretly didn't blame him for wanting to get out of their city, with its constricting walls and suffocating political blather, she knew that Rin's ire truly stemmed from being left, almost trapped, in the confines of his castle and his responsibilities as firstborn. He'd always wanted to travel the world and adventure beyond the borders of even the most recently drawn maps. Haru's departure to do just that, on the heels of losing the father that he practically worshipped, had been a particularly painful wound to his most dearly held dreams.

"What you're doing right now," Rin murmured, his hand coming rest on the back of her head. The other trailed along her arm, pulling one of her hands away from his neck and tangling his fingers with hers. Gou trailed her kisses to his collarbone, and then rested her head on his shoulder.

"There's going to be a festival in the city soon," she said, her voice low and containing a pleading note. "I was hoping...maybe..."

"I won't leave the palace, Gou. I can't." Rin's interruption was gentle, even though it was firm. "But you're free to go. Enjoy it for the both of us."

Gou sighed, nestling closer. "You need to get out once in a while," she lamented. "This palace, where our father lived and died...it's not good for you to stay in it. It's not _healthy._ You need to let yourself be happy, brother. That's what father would have wanted."

Rin looked away, saying nothing. Whenever there was a festival or a feast, Rin would bid her to go as she pleased, and perhaps would she bring him back a gift or souveneir? Wear a headscarf so you are not cold, return home before the streets become unsafe, and please, for the love of all that is good and holy, don't go along with whatever idiotic mischief Nagisa concocts. Gou frowned as she recalled the oft-repeated sentiments her brother not insincerely sent her out with.

Rin, noticing her expression, mirrored her frown and caught her face between his hands. Meeting her eyes, he said, "My happiness is _your_ happiness, Gou. Would you deny me that?" And he brushed his mouth against hers. Gou met his kiss with a sigh that was half melancoly and half pleased.

Gou pulled away and dismissed her attendants, who filed out of the room almost silently after bowing respectfully. Once they were alone, they lay beside each other, kissing and caressing and speaking barely above a whisper.

"I'll be dancing at the festival..." Gou murmured breathlessly as Rin kissed his way across her shoulders.

Rin pulled away to meet her eyes, his expression one of genuine surprise. "You are?"

Gou nodded, her face flushed. "It's a performance we-Nagisa and his guild and I-have been working on for months."

Rin pressed his forehead to Gou's. His hair tickled her cheek, causing her to let a giggle slip out. Rin grinned, pressing a kiss to her lips once more, before saying, "I...I haven't watched you dance in a long time."

"It's a beautiful routine," Gou insisted. "The master chose Nagisa and I for the main roles. We'll have a duet."

Rin's expression was conflicted, but Gou persisted. "I was hoping, more than anything, that I could dance for you."

With visible effort, Rin came to a verbal decision. "I'll go."

Gou pulled back, brows raised high. "You will? You really will?"

"Just this once, Gou. Since you're dancing. But that's the only reason."

Gou kissed him fervently, moving from his lips to his chin to his neck, repeating the words, "thank you, thank you!" Rin affectionately drew circles with the tips of his fingers on her bare thigh, while his expression became thoughtful.

After weeks of preparation the city burst into celebration with the opening of the festival. Merchants, having sniffed out an oppurtunity to make a tidy profit, were hocking their wares on every corner and in every bare plot of street. Performers ran through crowds enticing sightseers to view whatever show was about to start, and tourists wandered about in a state of fanciful wonder.

The young princess was ensconced in a large tent in a market square, while the world outside was becoming bathed in the soft reds and oranges of dusk. Her fellow guild members were preparing for their upcoming performance.

"Gou, Gou," twittered a slim but toned blonde boy who, at that moment, wasn't wearing a shirt. "Gooouuu-"

"Nagi, shut up or spit it out!" Gou snipped, preoccupieded with her attempt to twist her hair into an elaborate latticework of braids.

"Don't be so mean, Gou, people will forget you're a princess," Nagisa responded, coming to stand behind her and gently nudging her hands away so that he could take up the work she only succeeding in making more difficult for herself. He dropped his tone to a whisper, magenta eyes gleaming with the anticipation of sharing valuable gossip. "Haru is home."

Gou stood up abruptly, not registering, in her surprise, the pain of having forcibly ripped her hair out of Nagisa's fingers. She spun to face him. "He's _home? _Are you absolutely sure, Nagisa?"

Nagisa was Gou's best friend. He'd been the one to introduce her to the world of dancing in the first place. She'd met him through her brother, and from then on had been involved in almost all shenanigans he managed to get into. Gou was surprised Rin hadn't put him in the stockade for a few hours out of sheer irritation. She suspected Rei, their friend from the royal guard, had implored Rin to restrain his annoyance and allow him to take care of it. Not infrequently Gou wondered if the guardsman carried a torch for Nagisa. Nevertheless, when Haru had left, Nagisa had been one of the ones to bid him farewell.

The boy winked. "I talked to him myself just yesterday. He's coming to see our performance tonight. I had to beg him to come, but Mako helped. Rei, too."

"What? They saw him too? _Everyone _has seen him but me? Well, me and my..." her words died in her throat. Her brother was going to be watching the performance in the same audience that Haruka, his estranged best friend, would be a part of. They would be only meters apart from each other for the first time in two years. Suddenly the heavens opened up within Gou's mind, and she could see a future in which her brother was finally, truly happy. Instantly Gou knew it would be painful getting to that future-maybe even downright heartbreaking. Rin might even become angry with _her_ sometime within the near future. But Gou didn't care about that. If it meant suffering a little of Rin's ire, then she would weather through it for the sake of his emotional peace. Nothing meant more to her than her beloved brother's happiness, and she knew that that depended heavily on his turbulent friendship with Haruka.

"Nagi," she hissed in a fervent whisper, "my brother is going to be watching too!"

Nagisa's eyes widened as he heard Gou's words. "You mean...!" He knew all about both the prince and the traveler's stormy falling-out, and the prince's subsequent melancholy.

"Yes, Nagi, and if things go exactly right maybe this mess can get straightened out. But they have to go _exactly right._"

"Let's pray," Nagisa said insistently, his tone laden with seriousness. "The gods can handle this better than we can."

The dancers clasped one another's hands, bringing them close to their mouths. "Oh, great gods, mend the bond that has been severed," Gou whispered. "Bring my brother peace and happiness."

"Remember us, your servants, and how we've exemplified your glory," Nagisa recited. "Again we glorify your splendor tonight upon the stage." His words were a traditional prayer often intoned by members of the performing trade.

After they ended their prayer, Nagisa and Gou gazed at one another, both in thought. Nagisa finally broke the silence.

"I think those braids are a lost cause, Gou," he said, twisting an apple-red lock around his finger, "but for the better, I think. You hair looks so much prettier down."

Gou blushed modestly at the compliment, smacking Nagisa's bare chest with her fist.

Rin was hidden beneath the hood of a blue-and-indigo cloak in the middle of the excited crowd. The sun had sunk beneath the horizon, plunging the festival into a darkness that was full of colorful lanterns. Torches on wooden posts stood at the front corners of the stage. Rin had purchased the crimson drapes hanging from the edges of the stage himself, although only Gou knew it.

The musicians sat on both sides of the stage, two identical arrangements of lute, drums, and horn. Suddenly a beat from the drums reverberated in Rin's chest; the performance was starting.

The junior girls emerged from behind the curtains first, wearing flowing, nearly transparent silk around their hips that almost touched the ground. They performed their number: a slow, sensuous dance that entranced the audience, inviting it to join in with its suggestive languor. Then the junior boys had their turn, dashing out onto the stage. Bare-chested and wearing only bright orange pantaloons, they pounded out an acrobatic display that was dizzying to watch, jolting the observers from their trance and slowly building anticipation, a feeling of rising excitement. It was then that Gou (and Nagisa) burst from behind the curtains.

Rin drank in Gou's visage like a dying man. She was wrapped in blue silk lined with teardrop sappires, her hair flowing free from constraint. The fluid curves of her body in constant motion, as she danced, reminded Rin of flowing water; of baths taken together and drinks shared and rainy seasons spent in the warmth and comfort of each other's arms.

Rin hardly paid attention to the story that the performance was playing out-something about a goddess of water loving a god of fire-and let himself become hypnotized by Gou's dancing. Her hair was flowing freely, swaying hypnotically with the rhythm of her movements. Rin was finding it hard to breathe, and wondered vaguely if this was what drowning felt like.

It was when Nagisa threw his turban-secured with a ruby cabochon brooch that Rin had also bought, he noted with irritation-into the thunderously applauding crowd did he snap back into reality.

Rin looked around. The audience members were applauding violently, cheering and whistling and stomping as though they were being paid handsomely to do it. A few people were slightly more reserved. A group of three men were clapping with fervor, but were otherwise standing still. Rin recognized Makoto, whose smile was, as always, gentle and soothing, and Rei, who stood tensely erect even though he was off duty. The third, though-

Rin's eyes widened and his fists clenched. How _dare _he-just _show up, _out of nowhere, unannounced, when after two years of silence-

Rin stalked over to the group, choosing not to make a scene for the sake of both his dignity and Gou's shining happiness radiating from the stage. Rei was the first to spot him.

"Your Majesty!" he exclaimed. Rin ignored him-he would interrogate him later. The third man was already gazing at him in that unnervingly uninhibited way of his; that only served to feed the flames of his contained anger.

"Rin," the man greeted simply. He had no thought for formalities, Rin remembered. He replied in kind, uttering a name that his friends, his advisors, and even his sister had avoided mentioning over the past two years.

"Haruka."

**A/N: **I'm sorry I disappeared, guys! I'm currently working on a big project, the first chapter of which I plan to have out by Christmas. It isn't Free! related, sorry. This chapter was REALLY hard to write. I don't ship the Matsuokas romantically, but I wanted to explore the different possibilities of their relationship. I hope you enjoyed it, and holy frick, I'm so sorry for the late update.


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